Traditionally, accurately drawing straight or curved lines required the use of rulers, compasses, protractors, and/or other guides. U.S. Pat. No. 3,384,964 to Phillips describes an improved guide having a plurality of grooves with rounded junctures, such that when the guide is placed beneath a paper sheet, the grooves guide the marking instrument to draw the desired line.
Such guides can be problematic, however, as they are detached from the paper sheets and are easily misplaced. In addition, the guides typically must be held exactly in place to accurately draw the line, and therefore loose guides can be more difficult to use.
Phillips also failed to provide for drawing angled or curved lines. U.S. Patent Appl. No. 2008/0241802 to Hachey, et al. (pub. October 2008) describes an improved guide comprising a clipboard having grooves that can be rotated as desired to guide a user in drawing angled lines. The '802 device, however, can be problematic as the clipboard is detached from the paper sheets, and can be misplaced. In addition, the '802 device is limited to holding only a single piece of paper while in use.
U.S. Patent Appl. No. 2008/0070200 to Hachey, et al. (pub. March 2008) describes sketch paper having grooves that embossed onto the writing paper. One problem is that the textured paper significantly limits what users can draw. Thus, for example, the grooves would likely distort non-conforming lines, such as cursive or other text.
Thus, there is still a need for paper tablet having an attached sketching device that guides a user in drawing a trace and can be moved and stored when desired.